BJP questions Election Commission's neutrality

New Delhi, Dec 8 (UNI) The BJP unit of Gujarat today filed two complaints with the Election Commission (EC) demanding action against Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Mr Digvijay Singh, saying they had violated the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by describing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as ''Maut ka Saudagar'' (merchant of death); BJP sources said here the party's letter to the EC pointed out that as per the MCC rule, no one could name any contestant or the party, which was directly involved in the election. However, the rule had been violated by Ms Gandhi and Mr Singh and the EC should take action against them.

Earlier, Mr Modi was served with an EC notice on his reported statement on Decemeber 6 justifying the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in a fake encounter. The EC in its notice had directed Mr Modi to file a reply by today.

Mr Modi's in his reply, which was submitted to the EC by his lawyer today, clearly pointed out the notice was ''highly biased''.

''The EC action tantamount to anything but unfair and cannot be termed as neutral,'' the letter said.

UNI